Photo: © cyclingnews
Live report Results Medal Tally
By Jeff Jones , online editor
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In an enthralling finish to the Olympic cycling in Sydney, Russian Viacheslav Ekimov won the 46.8 kilometre men's individual time trial by an 8 second margin. Although a win in the Tour de France was not at stake, there was plenty of pride, prestige and potential sponsorship at up for grabs, especially between Jan Ullrich (Ger) and Lance Armstrong (USA). Jan Ullrich ended up winning that battle, but had to settle for silver today after Ekimov posted the fastest time at nearly every check to win in 57:40 (48.69 km/h)
The early pace setter was Ekimov's countryman, 22 year old Evgeny Petrov who is also the Russian time trial champion this year. He started in group one, and it wasn't until Khazakstan's Andrei Teteriouk in group two broke 59 minutes that he was moved from his perch. Teteriouk's time stood until Ekimov smashed all barriers, holding a minute's advantage after two laps.
Expected challenges from Chris Boardman, Christophe Moreau, and David Millar failed to eventuate, and as the third group rolled out, Ekimov's time of 57.40 stood as the one to beat. The wind was an important factor, as it picked up throughout the day. Ekimov rode more than an hour before the big guns in the last group, but still had to contend with the breeze up Darley Road as he suffered up the climb. To the Russian's advantage, he had the one of the most streamlined positions and this surely helped in the end.
Of the final 12, Laurent Jalabert and Abraham Olano produced good riders, with Olano getting close to third by the finish. Maybe he was helped by his directeur sportif screaming at him out of the loudspeaker mounted at the top of the teamcar.
However, everyone was waiting for Armstrong and Ullrich to come out firing, and they didn't disappoint. At end of lap one, Armstrong was only one second behind Ekimov while Ullrich was three. At the end of lap two, it was Ullrich at six seconds, Armstrong eight, and then things got really interesting...
Lap three was critical. Ekimov had turned in a 19:12 for his last lap, only four seconds slower than his first. But by the last intermediate time check, Ullrich had pegged him back and was in front by six seconds. Could the German do it? Armstrong looked out of it at this stage and lost even more time over the last 7.5 kilometres. He came in well down on Ekimov's time, 34 seconds behind but it was still good enough for the bronze medal.
However, the wind didn't help Super Jan as he headed up the finishing straight for the last time, as the flags were blown rigid by the wind. It was close but in the end he lost 14 seconds over the final 7.5 kilometres, to finish 8 seconds behind the German.
Despite being a former world hour record holder, no-one really picked the 34 year old Ekimov for the Gold. It was an outstanding ride, and the veteran used his excellent bike handling skills to great advantage on the course. He is a teammate in Lance Armstrong's US Postal team, but today he was number one.
There were two casualties on the day, Nathan O'Neill (Aus) who fell on a corner just before entering Centennial Park, eventually finishing 19th, and Michael Sandstod (Den) who did not finish.
1 Viacheslav Ekimov (Rus) 57.40 (48.69 km/h) 2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) 0.08 3 Lance Armstrong (USA) 0.34 4 Abraham Olano (Spa) 0.51 5 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 1.04 6 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) 1.12 7 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 1.20 8 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) 1.23 9 Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) 1.40 10 Tyler Hamilton (USA) 1.46 11 Chris Boardman (GBr) 1.52 12 Andreas Kloeden (Ger) 1.53 13 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 1.58 14 Evgueni Petrov (Rus) 2.00 15 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 2.17 16 David Millar (GBr) 2.37 17 Evgeny Wacker (Kgz) 2.41 18 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) 2.45 19 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 2.52 20 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 2.54 21 Dainis Ozols (Lat) 3.06 22 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) 3.27 23 Martin Hvastija (Slo) 3.28 24 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) 3.30 25 Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) 3.42 26 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) 3.46 27 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) 3.54 28 Tomas Konecny (Cze) 3.56 29 Erik Dekker (Ned) 4.00 30 Martin Rittsel (Swe) 4.19 31 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) 4.24 32 Lauri Aus (Est) 4.36 33 Alex Zuelle (Swi) 4.54 34 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) 4.58 35 Vitor Gamito (Por) 5.36 36 Amr El Nady (Egy) 5.38 37 Michael Andersson (Swe) 7.39 DNF Michael Sandstod (Den) Splits breakdown: kilometres: 7.5 15.6 23.1 31.2 38.7 46.8 Viacheslav Ekimov (Rus) 9.35 19.08 28.51 38.28 48.20 57.40 Jan Ullrich (Ger) 9.35 19.11 28.56 38.34 48.14 57.48 Lance Armstrong (USA) 9.36 19.09 28.55 38.36 48.27 58.14 Abraham Olano (Spa) 9.42 19.22 29.14 38.57 48.48 58.31 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 9.40 19.31 29.14 39.07 48.59 58.44 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) 9.50 19.40 39.29 49.17 58.52 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 9.40 19.23 29.27 39.19 49.19 59.00 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) 19.38 29.36 39.22 49.11 59.03 Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) 9.48 19.38 29.33 39.29 49.29 59.20 Tyler Hamilton (USA) 9.50 19.33 29.36 39.32 49.32 59.26 Chris Boardman (GBr) 9.50 19.41 29.45 39.39 49.43 59.32 Andreas Kloeden (Ger) 9.49 19.41 29.43 39.33 49.41 59.33 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 10.02 30.25 40.01 59.38 Evgueni Petrov (Rus) 9.48 19.40 29.38 39.33 49.38 59.40 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 9.50 20.38 29.51 39.52 50.05 59.57 David Millar (GBr) 9.52 19.54 30.06 40.10 50.18 1.00.17 Evgeny Wacker (Kgz) 9.56 19.55 30.00 40.03 50.15 1.00.21 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) 9.56 19.59 30.11 40.10 50.24 1.00.25 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 9.54 19.56 30.07 40.17 50.34 1.00.32 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 9.54 19.58 30.09 40.14 50.33 1.00.34 Dainis Ozols (Lat) 9.50 19.53 30.04 40.11 50.31 1.00.46 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) 10.06 20.13 30.30 40.36 51.02 1.01.07 Martin Hvastija (Slo) 9.50 19.44 30.03 40.20 50.52 1.01.08 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) 10.06 20.06 30.21 40.34 1.01.10 Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) 10.01 20.04 30.20 40.36 51.09 1.01.22 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) 9.54 20.06 30.27 40.47 51.10 1.01.26 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) 20.21 30.52 51.13 1.01.34 Tomas Konecny (Cze) 10.12 20.35 30.54 41.07 51.22 1.01.36 Erik Dekker (Ned) 10.02 20.18 30.38 40.49 51.15 1.01.40 Martin Rittsel (Swe) 20.25 41.18 1.01.59 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) 10.13 20.33 31.05 41.27 1.02.04 Lauri Aus (Est) 10.13 20.32 31.03 41.20 51.57 1.02.16 Alex Zuelle (Swi) 10.18 20.35 40.10 51.59 1.02.34 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) 10.13 20.30 30.59 41.43 52.16 1.02.38 Vitor Gamito (Por) 10.07 20.44 31.35 41.51 52.37 1.03.16 Amr El Nady (Egy) 10.12 20.36 31.05 41.33 52.36 1.03.18 Michael Andersson (Swe) 10.35 21.52 34.09 42.54 54.08 1.05.19 Michael Sandstod (Den) 9.54 20.04 30.36 41.04 51.53 DNF
Gold Silver Bronze Total France 5 2 1 8 Germany 3 4 3 10 Netherlands 3 1 0 4
Italy 2 0 1 3
Australia 1 2 3 6 Great Britain 1 1 2 4 USA 1 1 1 3
Spain 1 0 1 2 Russia 1 1 2 4 Ukraine 0 1 1 2
Belgium 0 2 0 2 Switzerland 0 1 1 2
Kazakhstan 0 1 0 1
Uruguay 0 1 0 1 Lithuania 0 0 1 1 China 0 0 1 1